This case is so upsetting. Let me rant. I'm sick and tired of seeing parents do horribly dangerous things with their kids. I see it every, single day. They walk across a busy street, in the crosswalk, without holding their two year old child's hands. They walk on a sidewalk next to a busy road with their toddler walking alone, BEHIND them. I see them allowing their babies to play, unattended, on the balconies in the complex next to my house - with slats big enough for the babies to squeeze through ( a puppy fell to his death from the balcony).
I see parents allowing their precious kids to run around alone, in a store, or run ahead in a crowded parking lot.
Invariably, when I bring the dangerous omission to the parent's attention, they usually act sheepish or even angrily defensive. It drives me nuts.
So, frankly, this hideous tragedy does not surprise me at all.
That being said, I am also a bit surprised by the rage at this mother. She made a stupid, horrible mistake. And she paid the ultimate price. She will not be charged and neither should she be, IMO, because her mistake and the result of it will be lesson enough to her and hopefully, others.
One other point, in looking at those photos, I was a bit shocked at how close the people viewing these animals were to the animals. I was shocked that there was no plexiglass or even mesh at that point. I think that should be changed. Any drunk yahoo or stupid teen could decide to mess around or jump in and neither the zoo nor the animals should have to deal with that.
I do believe it is possible for a person to be holding a child near a ledge and have that child jerk back and out of their arms if the person, for whatever reason, stumbled at the same time or otherwise lost their balance. I have held kids who have jerked their entire bodies that hard. Maybe not out of my arms, but I think it's definitely possible.
I also do not believe the zoo should be sued or, if they are, found guilty of any wrongdoing. People do need to take responsibility for their own actions at a certain point and not every accident can be foreseen. Apparently, there were signs. The mom, for whatever reason, either failed to heed them or something odd happened to cause that child to leave her arms and go over the rail.
So, in sum, the mother was responsible and likely made a horrendous and stupid mistake, but clearly, she did not mean to and did not foresee what would result. She is devastated and always will be. It's probably unlikely that she's some crack mother who repeatedly puts their child in harm's way due to their desire to get high or something. It was likely a one time, stupid mistake that she and her baby and the father and everyone who loved her son, will pay for, forever. Nothing, IMO would be served by prosecuting her.
The zoo does not appear at all to have been negligent, although the Dailymail article does show a viewing deck that is incredibly close to the animals and totally open, with no moat or other barrier between the people and the animals, should one choose to try jump the barrier. But, people need to follow rules and pay attention. Any law suit against the zoo should be thrown out.
Finally, I don;t like zoos very much. I don;t like animals in captivity and especially not in small enclosures. I believe they become even more aggressive in such situations. I feel sorry for those animals and the pack that lost one of its own.
While it may have struck you as "immoral" to go after the party with the deepest pockets, from another point of view that's called defending your client to the fullest, which is also a moral obligation once you accept money to do so. I worked for large law firms for over 20 years and I can assure you that the "deep pockets" have plenty of lawyers on retainer to defend them. They almost always get a better defense than the little guy whose suit strikes us as frivolous.
